Canadians’ politeness isn’t weakness

Hello? Is that the sound of collective light bulbs being switched on in various noggins across this vast, divided land?

Hopefully so, because the obvious is now being reiterated in the rather fractious and unique manner belonging to the blow-hard-in-chief currently residing in the White House.

Remember projects such as the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines that were killed by a mixture of deliberate action and lack of guts by the federal government?

Those were projects that, from their inception, were aimed at both finding new overseas markets for our country’s chief export, and in doing so, reducing our overwhelming reliance on the United States.

So how about it Justin Trudeau? Do you still think it was wise to watch those projects go belly up, now that you’re getting your own bellyful of Donald Trump’s tiresome tirades?

Does the moral approval of the rest of the world for doing our tiny bit to save the planet seem so marvellous this morning, now that the country buying the vast bulk of our exports is playing hardball and threatening to make Canada suffer?

Is that the sound of one hand clapping you can hear from those other nations?

Never mind, perhaps that famous pipeline foe, former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, will provide a soft shoulder to cry upon.

Oh, and incidentally, doesn’t it stick in the craw just a tad that much of the funding for those eager beaver protesters spread out across this land get their funding from U.S. outfits such as the Tides Foundation, whose expressed aim is to keep Canada’s oil landlocked, which ensures our only customer is the very country they’re headquartered in, and one that takes a $20 kickback on every barrel we send them?

Maybe, if we’re talking tariffs, then such U.S. funding flowing into the pudgy paws of the eco-warriors might be a good spot to start imposing some mighty tough ones.

Or perhaps start telling those folk currently wandering across the fringes of our southern border to turn right around and return to the good old U.S. of A, from whence they came.

Hey, maybe we need a wall and perhaps the Americans will pay for it.

Actually, in all seriousness, this latest bluster about making Canada suffer in a looming trade war might be exactly what’s needed to finally jolt our country out of the self-satisfied dozing that’s crept into public policy.

It is all very well taking on these countless environmental and social issues, while apologizing for every past sin from some bygone era, but first a country needs to strengthen its economy, fund its military and secure its actual borders.

Blithely assuming that sort of stuff doesn’t matter, and eventually leads to a nasty wake-up call, which is what we’re getting right now.

It isn’t too late to rectify this. Thankfully, the bully-boy tactics employed by this aging drama queen Trump are stirring a proper response among myriad of Canadians.

Threats to make us Canucks suffer and pay a stiff price won’t work. That’s why Premier Rachel Notley’s recent threats to cut off Alberta oil to B.C. also would have proven futile.

Canadians aren’t pushovers, whose only interest is in their collective pocketbooks. This can be a harsh, unforgiving land, so those who don’t actually live here should never make the mistake of confusing politeness with weakness.

A century ago, many young Canadians were fighting and dying in the fields of France. It was a dreadful conflict that came close to splitting the nation, but one from which a new, young Canada emerged onto the world stage.

Those ties still bind despite the tiresomely petty inter-provincial political spats that seem to consume us these days.

Of course, some strange fellow with bad hair and even worse manners isn’t exactly the Kaiser when it comes to a collective foe.

But if it’s all we’ve got to bind us together these days, then he’ll do in a pinch.

Is that the sound of one hand clapping you can hear from those other nations?